


Sick Sunday Special

by W0W



Category: Joe Sugg - Fandom, ThatcherJoe - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Guilt, M/M, Roommates, Sickness, blaming each other, but not focused on because being a good roommate is more important, possible feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 12:41:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13636494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/W0W/pseuds/W0W
Summary: When Joe indirectly causes Byron to get sick, his guilt drives him to take care of him.





	Sick Sunday Special

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks Gab for beta reading <3

He'd really done it now. He winced as he heard a loud sneeze resonate through the downstairs followed by a long series of coughs and a pained moan. It had been a running gag, and it hadn't caused any harm yet, but of course, luck never lasts. He'd locked Byron out again for the Vlog yesterday morning, only for the weather to quickly turn sour, a down pour accompanying the already cold air and stiff breeze. In his struggle to quickly unlock the door, it had jammed and he'd thrown his camera to the couch to use both hands. It had taken nearly five minutes and Byron had been thoroughly soaked and was shivering. He'd quickly gone and put on dry clothes and had laid bundled up for a good long while, but it seemed as if the damage had already been done.

Joe dragged himself from the bed and trudged down the steps, leaving his camera in his room. Today was no day to vlog, and his subscribers knew, he's not a daily vlogger. Taking a week that had a bunch of nothing going on, and devoting the whole day to caring for his roommate seemed like the proper thing to do. Yesterdays vlog had been abandoned for trips to the store for medicine they didn't have, ridiculously long searches for just the right soup and just the right herbal tea. Nor did he think Byron would appreciate a camera in his face if he felt anywhere near as rotten as he sounded. 

He sighed as he waited for the kettle to boil, mentally berating himself. Byron by no means deserved all the crap he put him through on a daily basis, and he most definitely did not deserve to get sick all for the sake of a running gag. He pushed himself away from the counter and began to cook some oatmeal. He didn't know how Byron was feeling and oatmeal felt safe. It shouldn't be too heavy but it would be filling. The kettle whistled and he carefully poured the water over the tea bag in the deep mug that Byron favored, allowing it time to steep as he finished the oatmeal. 

He carefully spooned it into a bowl and made his way down the hallway towards Byron's room, kicking the door slightly. "Byyyrahn?" He asked softly, leaning his head against the door. "I made breakfast" 

A weak "kay" answered him, followed by another round of rough coughing. He shook his head, he hadn't thought this through very well, both hands were full and he hadn't wanted to make Byron get up. He carefully shifted the bowl of oatmeal onto the top of the cup, slowly twisting the handle and opening the door. Byron turned to look at him from the mound of blankets and smiled weakly at him.

"Didn't want you to have to get up..." Joe said shrugging now that he had one dish securely in each hand. "I, uh, made some tea and some oatmeal. Wasn't sure how hungry you'd be and figured oatmeal was safe." He put the mug and bowl down on the side table and gingerly sat on the edge of the bed. 

Byron groaned out a thank you and sluggishly pulled himself into a seated position, pushing his hand through his messy dark hair. His hair was usually quite the birds nest, but he's clearly restless sleep had left it in an even larger state of disarray and Joe reached out to smooth some of it down without thinking. He froze with his hand gently tangled in his roommates hair. Byron merely tilted his head into Joe's touch and winced at the pain in his head. There was nothing to be done but finish what he'd begun, pulling away at this point would just draw attention to how wrong the action had been, so Joe gently flexed his fingers, scratching gently into Byron's scalp as he slowly drew his hand down the curve of his skull and to the back of his neck.

"How you feelin' buddy?" Joe asked softly, fingers still softly kneading at the back of Byron's neck.

"Like hell." Byron croaked out softly, letting out a soft chuckle before coughs wracked his body and he doubled over.

Joe let his hand slip down to rub soft, comforting circles on Byron's back until the coughing fit subsided. "When was the last time you took the cough medicine?" He asked quietly, and groaned internally at Byron's non-committal shrug. "You won't get better if you don't take it mate." 

Joe stood and walked over to Byron's bathroom where the medicine had been left as Byron flopped back against the pillows and curled into himself. "Wasn't helping" He groaned out wearily. His head ached, he felt like he couldn't breathe and the room was too hot and too cold all at once. 

Byron slowly blinked open his tired, bloodshot eyes as Joe helped him to sit up. He smiled softly as Joe pushed his sweaty matted fringe from his forehead, only to moan in annoyance as Joe's hand left as quickly as it had appeared. "Byron, you're burning up bro. You're gonna need something stronger than off brand Dayquil." He said, leaving for the hallway bathroom to find the thermometer he knew they had somewhere. 

Inside Joe's head, his thoughts chased themselves in circles. 'I shouldn't have locked him out', 'Where is that blasted thermometer?', 'what if he needs to go to A&E?', 'do we even have medicine for fever and cold?' 'I'm so sorry Byron', 'does he need cold or flu medicine?', 'what if this is the last straw and he decides to move out?' The last thought stopped Joe short, his breath catching in his throat as he struggled to swallow. He didn't want that, not at all. They weren't romantically involved but Byron had become a close friend, not just with him but with the rest of the Buttercream Gang. There was the vlogs that Byron helped with immensely, the band, the podcast, there was so much of his life that was intertwined with his roommate. Joe shook his head and slammed his fist into his thigh. Now was not the time, he needed to focus on getting medicine to Byron and recording his temperature in case they needed to go get actual medical help. 

Joe walked back into the room with an assortment of medicines and the thermometer in his hands to find Byron sitting up in bed, drinking the tea and a good portion of the oatmeal in the bowl gone. Had he been out of the room for that long or had Byron just been hungry? Byron smiled up at him, eyebrow quirking in amusement at the mass of bottles in Joes hands. He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could with his arms full as he turned into Byron's bathroom to put the medicines on the counter. "Wasn't sure if it was fever, flu, cold or bubonic plague. Better safe than sorry.'

"So you were planning to just dope me up with everything we had and hope it worked?" Byron asked, laughing softly and having a smaller coughing fit. His voice still sounded coarse and husky but Joe couldn't tell if it was due to sleep or sickness, something he was grateful for.

"No," He laughed shaking his head, "I was planning to ask your symptoms and check to see which would take care of the most." Byron had placed the mug on his bedside table and was working on eating more of the oatmeal now. The fact that Byron seemed to have more of an appetite than he had had the day before was very promising, and Joe fought the urge to brush the hair from his forehead again. 

"Do I have something on my face bro?" Byron asked, pulling Joe from the thoughts that had been swirling in his head again. He'd 'lost' roommates before. Caspar had moved out years ago, but they were still close. If Byron moved out, surely they'd be fine too. Right?

Joe coughed awkwardly and shook his head. "Nah mate, just the sick" Byron laughed and Joe felt his chest tighten. "I really am sorry Byron..." He whispered, half to himself, not caring whether he was heard or not.

"Hey," Byron nudged his shoulder with his own, "I know bro. It's a running gag, the weather just decided to turn and the door decided to break. It's not your fault."

Joe fought at the tears that threatened to slip past his worried and exhausted eyes. "Ya, but if I didn't make a habit of embarrassing you for the sake of the vlog.." He was cut off by Byron's arms wrapping around him in a tight hug. Joe returned it, each clinging to the other out of need for longer than normal before they slowly separated.

"Tell you what, you go set up some Rocket League and heat up some soup, I'll take my own temperature, shower off and we can just hang for a few hours. Ya?" Byron said as he began the task of untangling himself from the blankets. 

"Oh you're on Bye-rohn" Joe said, laughing as he grabbed the breakfast dishes and left the room, calling out as he walked to the kitchen to start the soup. "But don't think I'll go easy on you just because your sick!"

"Of course not" Byron laughed, speech garbled from the thermometer tucked beneath his tongue "Just because you sabotaged me with sickness is absolutely no reason for you to allow me to win. I expect to kick your butt fair and square Sugg."

"I said I was sorry!" Joe hollered back as he heard the shower turn on.

"I know bro, doesn't mean I'm just gonna let it go" Byron laughed out and Joe smiled to himself. So maybe things hadn't gone to plan, but Byron was okay, they're friendship was fine and he was about to kick Byron's butt at Rocket League.


End file.
